It was not an easy decision and certainly not one I took lightly. I feared flying solo and half-blindfolded, with a special needs kiddo, into unchartered territory.

Scary.

But one evening, just when I had grown more confused and frazzled than ever before about whether to send Gabby to kindergarten or keep her at home with me…

God struck me upside-the-head with an amazing realization.

Who better to teach this little miracle…

and train her up in the way she should go?

Who better…. than her mother?

So it was, that very evening, a decision was made.

And I must say, I have received confirmation, after confirmation, from the most unlikely people, in the most unexpected places, that it was the right choice for my child.

I mean just a few weeks ago, the man installing my dishwasher, gave me renewed peace about the situation. God works in the most mysterious ways. Truly!

This is NOT to say the going is always easy. See my Unglued post if you don’t believe me.

Gabrielle finished up preschool at Dixon Road Elementary School in the beginning of June. She was in a mixed classroom with both typical and special needs kiddos.

Here is my little graduate on her last day…

Here she is heading out with her little sis to the graduation celebration…

Gabby and her classmates performed a few songs for all of us.

Gab was too busy smiling at me to sing! Aren’t they adorable?

My little preschool graduate…. she won “Best Smile”

and I can’t imagine why.

We enjoyed refreshments and said goodbye to friends…

and all the while I wondered how my Gabby would adjust to leaving the classroom experience behind.

Would she miss it?

Would I miss it?

Of course I knew I would have to wait a bit to find out because we were about to enjoy two full months of summer fun.

We dropped quarters into ride slots…

We hit hot tubs, pools, and spray grounds….

We attended story time…

We visited family and the beach…

We toured museums…

We had an absolute blast!

And like all teachers…

the week before school was supposed to start up again, I panicked over how little I had accomplished during summer break.

I’d had such high hopes when school let out…

Speaking of high hopes….

In case you’re wondering whatever became of the hundreds of giants flashcards I created…

Well…

they’re presently collecting dust in several different locations throughout my house.

Why, you ask?

Because I simply find it too disturbing to properly dispose of them.

They are resting in purgatory, if you will, awaiting their fate.

Seriously though, I spent hours creating those dern things. I suffered back spasms from measuring and cutting all that poster board in awkward positions.

We used them for a sum total of about 4 months.

It was a daunting task.

The challenge of presenting 5 flash cards, 15 times a day, separated by 15 min. intervals, simply became too much for this household to handle.

I missed a day…

And then forgot to bring the cards with us on a day trip we made to the aquarium…

Two days turned into many…

I seriously questioned whether it was worth getting back on track.

Initially, Gabby seemed to be mastering the cards, but as the sample size increased it became apparent that she really only recognized the first several letters of each word, so that, as we added additional words, she began to confuse them.

The program did warn that children who are already familiar with the alphabet may struggle to see the word as a single unit rather than a summation of smaller parts. This was true for my girl.

So with much guilt I scrapped the How To Teach Your Baby To Read and looked forward to trying a more phonics-based approach when we kicked off our homeschool year in August.